I'm very sad that professor Zenios is leaving the classics department at UCLA. This class was fantastic. Professor Zenios assigns challenging texts, but he always has such rich commentary on them, that you'll get something out of the class even if you don't read a single one. My favorite section of the class was the modern literature, but the ancient texts were interesting, and even the political theory was worthwhile. The texts themselves are challenging, but I would much rather read them and actually discuss the texts in detail than read something simpler and never analyze it in class, which has been my experience in some other classics classes. Overall, Professor Zenios is an extremely passionate person, and one of the most intelligent and thoughtful professors I know. I highly recommend him as a professor in case he ever comes back as a lecturer.

Very interactive class. Professor Zenios is extremely understanding, knowledgeable, and helpful. This class really made speaking and writing Greek feel like muscle memory

If I was to recommend one class I have taken so far, it would be this one. Professor Zenios is a very engaging lecturer who clearly cares about both the students and the material. Class is usually made up of a short presentation at the beginning, followed by small group and then class discussions. Professor Zenios will sometimes ask you to elaborate on your point or offer a counterarguement, but he does so in a way that doesn't discourage students from participating. The readings themselves are a bit lengthy and dense, especially the more theoretical ones, but I found them so interesting that getting through them was not an issue. Everything we covered felt like it made sense with the overall theme of displacement, and the spread of genre and type of media from article to fictional short story to poetry to documentary were all engaging and interesting. Professor Zenios also offers extensions for both the midterm and the final paper with no reason required as long as you let him know in advance. Overall, this class is fascinating if the topic interests you, the workload is manageable, and Professor Zenios is a wonderful professor.

Professor Zenios is fantastic!! He's super helpful, understanding, and intelligent and I found the workload for this class to be super reasonable. There were simple reading reflections (around 350 words) due every OTHER week on CCLE. I skimmed almost every reading assignment and as long as you have the general idea and can contribute to class discussions somehow, you'll be fine. Professor Zenios is big on the class discussions and participation. The group project and midterm were super easy in my opinion. The midterm was basically a short answer quiz on character identification and the big ideas we talk about in class. The group presentation was 10-15 min going more in depth on one of the assigned readings, so just choose an easier text and it'll be fairly straightforward. The final was a 6-8 page take-home paper but he gives very flexible prompts and you can even come up with your own if you don't like any of them! Overall, this class is interesting, fun, and easy if you pay attention and give some effort! I'm so glad I got to be in one of Professor Zenios' classes!

This guy was awesome. First classics course I ever took was Tyrants and Rebels with him and now I'm a classics minor :)

This class was awesome, I really enjoyed it and the instructor. Was structured as assigned weekly readings with section once a week where you would either present or participate in class discussion. The workload/difficulty is largely dependent on how much you want to put in in terms of reading and engaging with the material, I would say that the texts and discussions were worthwhile. We were assigned biweekly responses and and one short and one long essay with optional extra credit (No in class final). Simos is very personable and very thoughtful in his preparation of the class and I would definitely recommend this course.

Professor Zenios is great! I would definitely recommend this class. He teaches very clearly and also is available during office hours or by email for extra help. A lot of the class time is used for practicing the content by speaking with classmates, which is useful because it helps us learn better. Beware that participation definitely matters and accounts for a lot of the grade; you need to participate well in the speaking exercises and show up to class every day. Homework is assigned after each lecture but it is straightforward and helps you review the material. The tests and quizzes are pretty easy.